Help us decide! CSA vs CN, plus additional questions.

Hello!

I've been (my future wife hasn't) to a couples resort. With that, CTI is off the potential destination list (at least for now). We're coming for our honeymoon in August 2012. I know it's going to be hot, but we can't afford Fiji or Hawaii; those places make Couples seem extremely reasonable. Also, AI doesn't really exist in those places. After everything we're dealing with because of the wedding, we don't want to have to think about anything once at our destination.

We've considered other resorts, and other countries, but I have a hard time pulling away from Couples, as I know how it was last time (nearly perfect). It was just the right amount of everything for me. That said, we've considered Dominican, Playa Del Carmen, etc.

At this point we've pretty much narrowed it does to CN and CSA. Looking for some plus/minus reports from people. We're going to be there 9-10 days, should we consider a split? We're looking for romance (obviously), relaxation, and some fun.

Here are some additional things I'd like answers to as well:

Being that it's August, should we be concerned about Hurricanes? My understanding is that Jamaica is not as upset by them as some places (such as cancun). Is that correct? Should we be concerned about the weather? I like golfing and plan to hit the course at least once! We live in the Midwest, so we know about heat (100+ degrees with 99% humidity), but I'd prefer not to vacation to that sort of weather. I've looked at various web sites for that information, all I can find is "avg temp 91" What's the water like, what's the wind like, what's the actual weather like.

While we're leaning towards CSA, and an Atrium Suite, I believe these don't have windows... I've heard that these rooms can be rather.... revealing.. Meaning, people can hear you, etc. That is a bit of a concern for obvious reasons. Is it really as bad as some people make it seem? Also, should we concern ourselves about the bugs. I have read some negative reviews dealing with ants and mysterious bug bites. Are these worse in the atrium suites? Should we pack a citronella (sp) candle? The biggest concern is getting bitten, as a few ants doesn't really bother us.

If anyone could comment on these things, and give us a broad kind of difference between the two resorts I'd appreciate it. We're 31/24, and enjoy both being active and being lazy. Looking forward to hearing what you all have to say. Thanks in advance! We're looking to book this week, so quick replies are even more appreciated. Yeah Mon!

I think you will love either resort on the Negril side. The beaches are beautiful and endless and the water is crystal clear blue and gorgeous. I've only been to CSA, but the I know some of the differences would be that CN is smaller and the beach is deeper. Cn is a bit more social than CSA, but if you're into socializing then either resort would fulfill that requirement.

CSA is more spread out. Bigger. It's like a small village. There are more bars and restaurants at CSA and I believe the surroundings make it more romantic. I think if you are leaning towards CSA, then that is the one that you should go for. It's pulling you towards it for a reason. And as far as the Atrium Suites, I haven't stayed in them, but everyone that has seems to love them. Really romantic and it's the only type of room that has a hammock on the verandah. And don't worry about the noise because no one cares and it's a couples only resort, so......

As far as bugs, at CSA there is an aromatherapy citronella candle in each room for the verandah and as long as you don't leave food or drinks out in your room, the little ants won't show up at all. As far as any other bugs, we never saw any, but I've heard if you walk the beach after sunset to wear bug spray on your legs because of the sand fleas. You will LOVE CSA. We can't wait to go back. And just FYI, CSA is the only resort that you get true Caribbean Sea sunsets every evening.

I have visited cnegril on the trading places deal and we had our weddingmoon at CSA. We have been to CSA now 4 times and are booked for trip #5. I haven't been in August so all I can say is what you already have read. I can say we prefer CSA over anyplace now and are having a hard time going anywhere else.
We have not tried the atriums but have read nothing but good things about them.
As far as bugs, if you bring food or sugary drinks and leave them around your room, you are bound to get some ants. There are sand fleas at night and at dusk in the sand so be careful there. If you would like so see a few pix of CSA, feel free to email me at clemonssara40@gmail.com

Hi Partyoftwo,
Congratulations on your up coming wedding. You have picked the perfect place for a honeymoon but the choice between CN and CSA is difficult. You mentioned you were at CTI (in another lifetime) before and thought it was pretty close to perfect. How much did the au natural experience factor into your enjoyment? If you want an au natural beach on your honeymoon then I would suggest CN. If it's not that important to you then I'd go with your heart. We were really torn between CN and CSA when planning our 1st trip to Couples. We choose CN for the swim up bar. At that time CSA hadn't expanded and didn't have a swim up bar. We loved our stay at CN and planned on returning someday but before we did we were on a family vacation at Beaches Negril and saw CSA. As soon as we saw the property we knew we had found "our home". However after 10 visits to CSA we are going back to CN for 5 days (split stay CN/CSA) and we are really looking forward to going back there. We really love both places.

Having said that, what kept us going back to CSA are the rooms, the evening entertainment and the beach. We really like walking the longer beach and stopping at the local bars for a Red Stripe and a patty. Met lots of nice people on those walks. As for the rooms we love the feel of shuttered windows and dark wood. It's like being in your own little Tahitian hut. We've stayed in the beachfront suites, the (newer) beachfront veranda suites as well as the Atrium rooms this past January. I have to say I'm now sold on the Atriums and probably will be booking them from now on. Don't worry about "hearing things" in any of these rooms. It doesn't happen very often and IMO when it does the noise was intended for others to hear. Seems to be most common at the whirlpools late at night.

Bugs at night are common so take your bug spray (you need DEET) and apply it to you feet and legs in the evening. I put it on every evening whether I'm going to be on the beach or not. Bugs love me. I've rarely had a mosquito bite or anything else during the day.

If you are the active type you will enjoy the sports complex across the road. Nice place to get an early morning work out - not that I would know about that because I've never made it over there for a class/work out yet. Pack the clothes and shoes every time but I can't seem to pull myself away from the room and beach. At home I work out about 4 times a week.

I can't comment on the weather in August but being right on the ocean should help.

I'm sure you will enjoy which ever resort you choose. In this case there are no bad choices.
Enjoy

You can't really go wrong with either CSA or CN. We love them both and that is why we have to do a flip-flop every year. This year it's CN ( 73 days), last year it was CSA. We LOVE the atrium rooms at CSA and that is one of the reasons we go back there. You can't really hear much at all. We heard our downstairs neighbors one time, but it was ALL good. We're all in love, man.. no worries. People don't really care.

As far as romance goes, CN in our opinion is a lot more romantic than CSA. Well, I shouldn't say A LOT but a bit more. It's really a cozy resort. The beach is more private and prettier than CSA, but not by much. A lot less traffic.

Whatever one you choose, I'm sure you'll be back and you can pick the other one the next time...hehe.
(Couples is very addicting..you will see).

So!!! From these wonderful replies I am no closer to a decision... lol. I've honestly been considering other resorts (even today, as I'm typing this I've been reviewing other places) and I just keep coming back to couples... Let's just say I'm indecisive (ask my fiancee.. it's probably her biggest complaint about me). I have a tendency to overthink things. The more I research, the less I know.. ha ha!

One question that really hasn't been answered for me is if we should consider a split. Obviously we'll do the sharing spaces thing, but curious if it's worth doing 5 at one, 5 at the other.

Today my lovely wife-to-be came downstairs to me office and said "That's couples negril, I thought we were going to swept away". To this I replied, "save me from myself"... lol. Either way August seems too far away. I'm looking forward to coming back to Jamaica and having her experience the home away from home. I'm taking a poll here.. Two days and counting... I'm done thinking. We're booking on Wednesday. Without the couplicious deal being one of the two, I'm going to take the vote straight from this page...

Cast your vote! CN, CSA, or Both... Let's have some fun.. you get to decide where we go... Excited to see where we go

Our 1st stay was at COR(CTI before renovations) and we fell in love with it! We did the secret rendezvous once and ended up at CSS and loved it too. However, we didn't like the restaurants as much as CTI. Then we booked CTI and were bumped to CN because the renovations weren't completed at the time our trip was booked. Well....that resort is the be all and end all for us. I found our favourite Couples resort.
Weather - Negril side is more dependable, the weather and water conditions seem to be more calm (if it rains in Jamaica - it's a short shower of maybe 1/2 hour at most)
Rooms - CSS has the most variety of rooms and they are amazing, even the lowest category is beautiful
Beach - Negril better for walking
Privacy - CSS or CTI
Au Naturel - CSS and CTI both secluded, CN - easy ocean access and no time constraints
Restaurants - for us it's CN
Spa - CN has the treehouse
Diving or snorkeling - Negril because of the water conditions, never really choppy there
Bugs - we start taking a multi B-vitamin a few weeks before we leave and this cuts down considerably on the number of critter bites I end up with

Split trip - I think it's a great idea especially if you split between CN & CSA or CTI & CSS, because then your transfer time is less than 15 minutes to the other resort
- we did a split between CN(9 nights) and CTI(7 nights), if you don't mind the 2-1/2 hr drive from one to the other (we like that part) then it's great
Bonus - Couples will get you from one to the other and sometimes they'll ask what time you'd like to go
Bonus, Bonus - it's like having 2 vacations for the price of one
You get the chance to try 2 of the best places on earth and then decide which you like better for the next time.

Once we found CTI we thought we'd never go anywhere else, but then we were sent to CSS and thought 'oh brother, now there's 2 that we love, how can we choose?' Then we got bumped to CN (which I wouldn't have tried otherwise) and well, we found our 'home'. I love something about all three but there is something, or rather, alot of things that really attract us to CN and that's why we keep going back.

You can't make a mistake, if you're unsure then definitely do a split you won't regret it!

My fiance and I are getting married at CSA in April. We were torn between CSA and CN, then finally tossed a coin and chose CSA. We have 8 other people going with us and when we went to book our rooms, we found that all beachfront and ocean view rooms were sold out. That was a BIG negative for my father and stepmother - at first. They said they don't go to the caribbean to stay in a garden view room. Then they started comparing CSA to CN, and since we had flipped a coin to decide we were willing to go to CN where ocean front rooms were still available.

After comparing CSA with no oceanfront or view rooms available to CN with oceanfront rooms available, they decided they would take the garden atrium suite at CSA instead of the oceanfront room at CSA. None of us have ever been to either one so we can't compare yet, but they chose CSA because it has more restaurants and more "local life" along the beaches and close to the resort.

At the beginning, we asked the photographer we hired for our wedding who is local to Jamaica which she recommended and for some comparisons since she does weddings at both. Her only response was CN seems "less busier," CSA has more going on, and CSA has the sports complex.

That being said, we've booked CSA in the atrium suite and we're so excited. Once we booked, we stopped comparing the two and focusing on the one we are actually going to. Good luck with your decision and I look forward to hearing where you decide to go.

If you just do one, I vote for CSA. I like the rooms and length of beach better there. That said, I like both places so would seriously consider the 5 and 5 split. That way you get to experience both, and so will be making a more informed choice when you decide to return.

I vote for CSA - we go back for our 3rd time in May. We like the fact that it's spread out. I was originally leaning towards CN and then now-hubby looked at the brochure and picked CSA. We visited CN on our last trip and while nice, it was a lot more compact - and some people love that fact but CSA is truly "us". We enjoy walking the property and the long stretch of beach. I would say since you were leaning towards CSA already and your fiancee was thinking that as well, book CSA and sign up for Romance Rewards so you can visit CN. I personally wouldn't want to move resorts after 5 days but that's because I get VERY comfortable. Either way , you'll be in paradise....

I would take a better look at the resorts lay out, they are both so different. The room styles etc. My vote would have to be for Swept Away. 5 times, and doing 6 in less than two mos. The place is all you want it to be.

The comments I'm making are just my opinion and may be totally different than others.

Doing a split is always a good way to get to know other resorts and life saver when you just can't make a decision. I also think a 10 day trip is the minimum number of nights needed to do a split. If I'm doing a split I'd like to have 12 days because I don't really wind down until about 3 days into my vacation.

There are a few things you need to consider when doing a split.
With a 10 day split you will really only have 7 days to relax and do things either on or off the resort. I'm not sure where you are coming from and if your flights are direct, but your first and last days are really just travel days. The day you move from one resort to the other you will most likely have to pack up and have your suitcases at the Front Desk by 10:00. You will then probably not be able to get into another room until 3:00pm (that's check in time). Of course you can enjoy the property while you wait for a transfer or a room but you may need to carry your passport and other valuables around with you until you can get into your room. Tip - when you get to CSA you can use a locker at the Sports Complex to lock up your valuables while waiting for a room.

If you are taking your honeymoon right after the wedding you may be tired and need the time to relax and unwind. Doing a split may sound like a great idea but when you get there will you really want to pack up and leave when you are just getting into the groove of the place? It may take a few nights at one location to get into all the restaurants that need reservations or booked on to the catamaran trip (a must do for 1st timers).

Here's my opinion, book 1 resort and register for Romance Rewards so you can do a trading places to the other resort. With 10 days you could go over to the other resort 2 or 3 times - if you can tear yourself away from the resort you choose. I would save a split vacation for your next visit - and I'm sure there will be more.

IMO, CSA is more romantic and gives a better opportunity of being alone together or meeting and mixing with others. It also has better evening entertainment with the option of a disco. I also like the option of the longer beach and getting to see more of the local culture with out having to do an off resort excursion.

Go to the one that is calling you. They are both amazing places.
Karon

We've been to CN three times in August and never had any major weather problems. The first year we went it rained every afternoon, but that just gave us a reason to leave the beach to each a late lunch. The last two times there wasn't nearly as much rain. Last year, I think it only rained once or twice during the day and I have never thought it was too hot.

As for CN and CSA, we've only done a trading spaces and that's really all it took for us to realize that we prefer CN much more than CSA. But everyone has their reasons and opinions. I like the beach at CN better - it seemed like there was a lot more space. I also enjoy the layout of the buildings at CN. But as everyone says, you really can't go wrong...

I struggled with the same thing.
Haven't been yet but I'm getting ready to book CSA for two primary reasons.
1. More dinning options.
2. No nude beach. I have read complaints that some guests got rooms overlooking the "private" nude beach at CN.